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Thursday, April 26, 2012

Quantum Theif by Hannu Rajaneimi

From Goodreads.com: Jean le Flambeur is a post-human criminal, mind burglar, confidence artist, and trickster. His origins are shrouded in mystery, but his exploits are known throughout the Heterarchy— from breaking into the vast Zeusbrains of the Inner System to stealing rare Earth antiques from the aristocrats of Mars. Now he’s confined inside the Dilemma Prison, where every day he has to get up and kill himself before his other self can kill him.

Rescued by the mysterious Mieli and her flirtatious spacecraft, Jean is taken to the Oubliette, the Moving City of Mars, where time is currency, memories are treasures, and a moon-turnedsingularity lights the night. What Mieli offers is the chance to win back his freedom and the powers of his old self—in exchange for finishing the one heist he never quite managed.

As Jean undertakes a series of capers on behalf of Mieli and her mysterious masters, elsewhere in the Oubliette investigator Isidore Beautrelet is called in to investigate the murder of a chocolatier, and finds himself on the trail of an arch-criminal, a man named le Flambeur….

The Quantum Thief is a crazy joyride through the solar system several centuries hence, a world of marching cities, ubiquitous public-key encryption, people communicating by sharing memories, and a race of hyper-advanced humans who originated as MMORPG guild members. But for all its wonders, it is also a story powered by very human motives of betrayal, revenge, and jealousy. It is a stunning debut.

This was a very cool book. It starts out a bit perplexing as I had to mull over what the authors terminology means and how it relates to this world on Mars, then suddenly I found myself being swept along in a mystery-thriller that is just as grandiose as the Red Planet it was set on. And the subtlties! Wonderfully done! I absolutely love a book that smacks me upside the head partway through to leave me giggling with delight.

This book did that. Still mulling over some of the authors definitions and language, but still a fun read. I might have to read it again before bookgroup.

Sorry, reluctant to say more becuase I don't want to give anything away.